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Help clearing hard drive

Blake Veatch

Posted 09 May 2006 - 11:47 PM

Blake Veatch

Member

Member

28 posts

I am giving my computer to my parents and want it to be just like it was when I bought it so I need it to be whiped clean and a fresh install of XP. My computer is an HP and I did not recieve a XP cd with it although it does have the product key on the side of the pc. Anyway I can create a startup disc/cd?

I've done a search but had no luck with finding any help. Can anybody guide me through a format or a program that overwrites files on the hard drive so they can't be recovered in case my parents decide to sell it later on.

Posted 10 May 2006 - 03:48 AM

You can also order a recovery CD from H-P for your computer if it is not too old. I ordered one for a H-P pavilion and a vectra a couple of years ago. They cost me $45 each back then. They had the complete OS on the disk but it would only work with the model of the computer i ordered them for.

Major Payne

Posted 10 May 2006 - 07:00 AM

Major Payne

Retired Staff

Retired Staff

5,307 posts

You might look more into this with HP and see if you qualify:

ATTN: On July 26, 2005, the Court approved the Settlement in Dukes/Dolan v. Hewlett-Packard, Case Number CV-2002-270. All submissions for Requested Relief must be received by the Class Administrator no later than September 9, 2005.

Class action settlement in Dukes/Dolan v. Hewlett-Packard Company, Case Number CV-2002-270 in the Circuit Court of Phillips County, Arkansas. The Defendant in the case, Hewlett-Packard Company, is referred to throughout as “HP.” The persons who filed the lawsuit are called “Plaintiffs.”

Summary

Plaintiffs filed a class action in which they allege that HP failed to disclose to them and other consumers certain information about (1) the back-up or recovery software HP used on certain HP personal computers (“PCs”) and (2) Windows XP folders known as “ValueAdd” and “Support” that were not installed on certain HP PCs. Plaintiffs contend that HP caused damage to them and other members of the class. HP denies the claims and charges. The Court has not ruled on which party is right or wrong.

The parties have agreed upon a proposed Settlement of the lawsuit, which the Court preliminarily approved on May 2, 2005. The Stipulation of Settlement (“Settlement”), Notice of Class Action Settlement and court documents relating to this Settlement can be found on the Court Documents page of this site.

The Settlement provides certain benefits (“Class Relief”) to eligible Class Members who submit a Requested Relief Form available online on the Requested Relief Form page or by mail if requested from the Settlement Administrator. The Court will decide after a hearing on July 26, 2005 (the “Fairness Hearing”) whether to finally approve the Settlement.

You may be eligible to receive relief under the Settlement, if since September 1, 2001 you purchased or received an eligible HP computer model and are a current resident of the United States. For the list of eligible computer models, click here.....

dsenette

Posted 10 May 2006 - 07:38 AM

dsenette

Je suis Napoléon!

Administrator

26,035 posts

also..depending on the age of the hp...they have been putting a destructive recovery utility into their systems..i believe it's usually accessed by pressing ctrl + f10 during boot...if your system has this...then that would restore the machine to factory defaults